Hey Little Girl, this is Crazy but Can We Get Together in the Street Cafe on the Boulevard? It’s Nothing Too Serious

11102012

Something amazing happened last night; I was wrong (has is that amazing? It happens all the time. – ed.) Let me finish. I was wrong in assuming what Icehouse was going to play; but I don’t care.

It was billed as the ‘Primitive Colours’ tour in celebration of ‘Primitive Man’ and ‘Man of Colours’ albums, and would have been easy for one to assume that these were what we were going to hear. Even the die-hards I met said the same thing. So before the show had started I was slightly depressed that I wasn’t going to get to hear the likes of ‘We Can Get Together’ and ‘Can’t Help Myself’. This is where I was wrong.

Iva Davies

As it turned out, the show was essentially a best of; so they didn’t stick to what everyone assumed. So we got to hear what we wanted! Oh yeah, what a good feeling that was.

Because I misinterpreted the time on the ticket (it said 7:30 so I assumed that was when the show started. It was actually when the doors opened and Iva and co. didn’t start until just after 9) I was there super early, which mean I was first in the line, which means I got first choice at where I wanted to stand. So naturally I chose right up the front, not even an arms span from the stage. And that’s where I stayed all night.

Iva with Bass player Steve (who’s set list I kept looking at. He got a good laugh out of it)

Now you’re probably thinking, “the band is called Icehouse and they have a song called Icehouse. What?!” Well, that song is from the album ‘Icehouse’ (bear with me) when they were known as ‘Flowers’. It was their debut album in 1980 and was just a local release. After having huge success with it, they decided to try and make it in America (as you do – ed.). When they got over there though, there was already a band having success by the name of ‘Flowers’. So I don’t think I need to explain the name change.

The crowd was massive. I thought that because it was at the same place that I saw the Church, it was going to be the same set up. I was wrong (again –ed.). When I first got in the door, I had a quick glance at the merchandise stand, noticed much of it was over priced and headed down close to the stage. There was a fence (waist high) so you couldn’t get too close to the stage and there was not a table in sight; it was at this point that I became intrigued. By about 8, or shortly thereafter, it made sense. This is a band in the ARIA Hall of Fame (as were the Church, but, you know – ed.) and they were in demand.

The audience participation during the show was unbelievable, and it was helped no end by Iva. The band all had jokes and quick shots at each other between songs. For ‘Can’t Help Myself’ they even gave us ‘inspiration’ for singing the chorus. “Imagine you’re with a very special friend. Now imagine you’re doing a very special thing. Is there a noise that you’d make at the very special time?” Iva then proceeded to hold his hands up in an ‘o’ formation. Apparently it was Paul’s favourite letter of the alphabet. Other songs that the crowd got into were ‘We Can Get Together’ (I would’ve dance and jumped, but I suspect I would have hit someone in the face), ‘Man Of Colours’ and ‘Crazy’.